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Re: Post Game Thread: Pacers beat Chicago

Re: Post Game Thread: Pacers beat Chicago

I think Josh will get more time next season. We've got alot of player potentially on the outs, and I doubt we're going to 'stock' up with our few dollars we'll be under the cap with the team having so much trouble with money.

Re: Post Game Thread: Pacers beat Chicago

It may have been lucky, but that's his kind of shot. Conseco was amazing those last few minutes though. From when BRush passed on the three to Danny's shots and the last two possessions. It was electric, especially with all the chicago fans in the area. Great time for $1.50.

Re: Post Game Thread: Pacers beat Chicago

Re: Post Game Thread: Pacers beat Chicago

I was talking to BillS at halftime about Josh. He thinks it's a case of backup QB syndrome, which I don't agree with at all. However I did admit to him that since I had the chance to sit up close at a game where he was actually playing, I naturally dialed him in off the ball and watched closer.

The issue I saw was with him understanding his defensive assignment and sticking with it. He made some bad switches that seemed to put guys like Danny in tough spots, and early on he flat out left Ty Thomas to come help when he didn't need to which got him burned as Thomas went right to the rim on the dump.

So there are flaws. Where Bill and I disagree is that I think playing time works those things out. Bill thought that until he gets it in practice then he's going to be limited in PT. My feeling is that game experience is so much faster and just different, the learning impact is much higher in games than in practice, that PT earlier on would have those kinks worked out of his game.

I have to say that he showed good IQ at other points (like he usually does). For example, he came to set a PnR with TJ, they didn't really have the spacing so he cleared to the weakside wing which gave TJ dribble room. As he drove it drew Josh's man to help, Josh followed and went right to the rim for the score.

I look at where Noah is now compared to his first year and I see similar players. I definitely think Josh can match Ty or Noah in ability, or come close at least. I'd take a 90% version of either of them in a heartbeat off the bench.

Loved Rush's block of Gordon's shot from behind. Seeing them up close side by side Rush has 3-4 inches at least on Gordon, it's not close. Rush's one bad play was when he passed up an open 3 and then instead ended up turning it over. But otherwise I thought the night was what will come to be a classic Rush evening and if so I'll really take that.

I'm saying it outright - Murphy has become a really good team defender. His help and awareness at that end has been running pretty high. I was thrilled with that part of his game. Apart from roughing up a couple of guys on rebounds tonight, per the norm (Danny's face one of those times was priceless, just mugged), I was happy with what he brought completely.

I know JOB just did this because Foster is hurt or whatever, but I hope he noted how much better the team played with this rotation as well as the general starting lineup and rotation the last 5 or so games. The TJ-Jack blowup has worked perfectly for the Pacers benefit, at least if TJ continues to accept this "Jason Terry" role.

TJ does still get destroyed on defense, often because of his height, but then Terry's no ace defender himself. Rather than Jack being the combo guard 6th man I think TJ fits that role better, especially since that role usually requires you to be a big time scorer.

Ty Thomas smashing Hibberts shot into the floor like a spike. Brutal.

Rose shake and back shimmy move. Brutal. Dude is amazing in person, like seeing Nash just getting started. He's got so many different types of passes in his arsenal and the handles to set them up. Oh, and he can score the ball sometimes.

Josh for the buzzer beating dunk was nice.

Crowd was fantastic. Electric. Really. Standing for the final 2 minutes of play, buzzing from about the 6-7 minutes left mark just sensing a breakthrough even when the team seemed to be letting it slip away.

It feels like the crowd has come to know the team. I also think fans have been wanting to see Roy and Rush as a main point, and perhaps like seeing Jack running the show. It just feels like even more than early in the year with those surprise wins the fans now are connected to the team.

I could see dollar signs in the eyes of TPTB after this one. You want to sell a product, get them in the door and then show them what you had tonight. That'll sell tix more than any promo or ad.

Re: Post Game Thread: Pacers beat Chicago

Chemistry is important. I hope this carries over next season. I also hope Jack takes the Qualifying Offer and doesn't skip town, but I'm not holding my breath because I doubt the Pacers will pay much to keep him.

Marquis, on the other hand, I'd like to see the Pacers deny him his option and let him go. I like Daniels, but I think we can win without him, now that Brandon is showing what he can do and Mike D coming back sometime next season.

Re: Post Game Thread: Pacers beat Chicago

I gotta agree about the electricity of the game. It was really fun to be standing on my feet and yelling myself hoarse. Especially since I went with my friend, a Bulls fan. There was over 15k people there I think, which is pretty good. I hope the people can appreciate this team, and next year come more often.

Rush and Hibbert make me giddy.

Don't ask Marvin Harrison what he did during the bye week. "Batman never told where the Bat Cave is," he explained.

Re: Post Game Thread: Pacers beat Chicago

Ty Thomas killing them, he fetched Josh after him and you notice that Ty's output/impact diminished quite a bit after that.

Bulls pressed the in-bounds and Danny nearly through it away on a long bomb to Josh. JOB called over TJ and Jack and fixed that. At one point I saw him have Jack watch the Bulls players, back to the ball, so that they couldn't come up and make a sneak move. Their press didn't really work after that and they eventually went away from it.

You just have to deal with the chicken-egg situation here. I say that when JOB coaches better the team is more likely to win, whereas I think you feel like people just go in swings based on the results as though the effort/coaching remains constant and sometimes it just doesn't pan out.

Maybe that's not correct, but to me that's the vibe I get from you sometimes when you are countering the complaints about JOB (or various players).

But let's just be fair here, this rotation featured a lot 5 man groups that haven't seen much PT this year, and Jack-Rush-Roy as the starters isn't exactly the standard for this season. My complaint all along was that apart from teaching them the game, there was benefit in the chances to win right away by playing those guys.

So to me seeing these rotations/starters and the subsequent strong play goes hand in hand and only strengthens the earlier complaints that he needed to be doing this all along. However, since my goal is to see the team win and since this is the rotation now I'll hope he recognizes the benefit and sticks with it on into next season.

If he does that I think the team will win more, and therefore he'll be kept around as coach. If he goes off in some other direction and the team struggles then he's going to be done. And our opinions of his abilities won't alter those 2 outcomes I don't think.

Re: Post Game Thread: Pacers beat Chicago

He shouldn't have risked the game like that. We could have found a much better shot. It kills me that O'Brien probably told TJ "Just go out, work one on one, and shoot the ball". On that last shot. It's bull**** how bad his out of bound plays are.

Re: Post Game Thread: Pacers beat Chicago

Ty Thomas killing them, he fetched Josh after him and you notice that Ty's output/impact diminished quite a bit after that.

This is one of those things. Every time I see someone say "we need an athletic PF who focusus on defense blabla... Josh seems to already be one of those kind of guys. A guy who does the dirty work that doesn't show up in the stat sheet. Even when he isn't directly involved in the play he is out there setting screens and whatnot.

I think his rebounding should have been better, but mostly... I am happy with how josh mcroberts lived up to the hype i have been providing him with. Its rewarding.

"As a bearded man, i was very disappointed in Love. I am gathering other bearded men to discuss the status of Kevin Love's beard. I am motioning that it must be shaved."

Re: Post Game Thread: Pacers beat Chicago

It may have been lucky, but that's his kind of shot. Conseco was amazing those last few minutes though. From when BRush passed on the three to Danny's shots and the last two possessions. It was electric, especially with all the chicago fans in the area. Great time for $1.50.

I've said this the last couple of home games, just watching in my living room. I'm very proud of our crowd and fans. We may be small, but we are mighty!!

Re: Post Game Thread: Pacers beat Chicago

I'm not quite sure where to start. This was a nice win. I gave up on the playoffs a long time ago, but I still want them to win every night. There's probably something wrong with me.

Rush - After missing most of the last 2 games, I was hoping for another big offensive night from Brandon. I was impressed with his efficiency, but he seemed to freeze up a bit in the 4th. It really looked like he did not want to be the guy taking the shots down the stretch. I think that was exactly the case on the play Seth mentioned above. His defense on Gordon, however, was fantastic. I think Ben Gordon is probably one of the top 10-15 scorers in the NBA. Rush shut him down early and made him clearly uncomfortable all game long. The Bulls announcers were noticing that Gordon was passing up shots he normally takes. They didn't give Rush any credit, but it's still a telling sign. So in the past 4 games we have Rush scoring 11 points while guarding D-Wade during a 5-24 shooting game, two 29 point games, and Rush scoring 11 while guarding Gordon during a 5-18 shooting game. Pretty impressive.

A side note, why did O'Brien have Jack guarding Gordon when he hit the game-tying shot? At least he wised up and put Rush back on him at the end.

Another note, did anybody else notice Brad Miller's do-si-do screen of Brandon on the last play. Seriously, they had their elbows locked and Miller was spinning him around. Thankfully Danny did an excellent job on the switch.

Ford - TJ played an excellent game. He still does some infuriating things, but he was nearly unstoppable at times. As for the last play, any time you watch an NBA game, the last play is an iso for the best player about 90% of the time. I don't have any problem with the final play last night. Ford is our best scorer in a one-on-one situation.

Jack - His shot wasn't falling, and Chicago was defending him really well. He had a strong 4th quarter with some of the best passing I've seen from him. The four steals were also nice.

McRoberts - I thought he was bad/ineffective in the first half. He played great in the 4th quarter. I'm all for giving the kid more minutes, but it was apparent last night that he's not some all-star that we've got sitting on the bench. He's an athletic kid with a lot of energy who's pretty smart, but hasn't quite put it all together yet.

Granger - I think my expectations are too high for him. I watch the game and I think he's shooting poorly. I check the box score and see that he went 11-19 and 4-10 from the arc. I think to myself, "But he missed so many easy shots..."

It was nice to have Murphy back, but we needed Foster last night, if only so we didn't have to watch Rasho play.

Did anyone else notice that Joakim Noah cannot set a legal screen? He either moves into or leans into the guy he's screening every single time. I'm really surprised he doesn't get called for it more often.

Re: Post Game Thread: Pacers beat Chicago

I was able to go to the game, it was good stuff. Crowd seemed lively, even if not a full house.

Granger is impressive, man... this was the first game I've been to this year, he looks visibly more athletic and powerful this year, something I didn't catch watching the games from my living room. His shot is so sweet. And I noticed this --- when Granger catches the ball out behind the line, the entire crowd builds up just like we used to do when Reggie used to catch and set behind the line. You just have this feeling you're about to have 3 more points on the board. It's nice to feel that again.

Rush looks like he belongs out there, he's quickly becoming a favorite of mine. It was nice to see McRoberts get some meaningful playing time. I just wish Diener had made it out there, I love that kid.

Re: Post Game Thread: Pacers beat Chicago

Looking at jack's stat line does not tell you what he did do in the game. He was active even though his recent production was down.

Ford was fouled on that last shot. Ty fell into him, that is why it looked uglier than usual. Ford has broke down Rose reguarly this season. I have no issues giving him the ball late in the game. It was not a bad out of bounds play. It was excuted for the win, even though it wasn't ideal. It was a win. We trailed going in and McBob gave us the energetic spark needed to overcome the energy of the Bulls.

Our intenistiy grew, were as earlier in the year when faced with a hightened intensity we folded and gave up leads. This team is growing and developing. There are exactly the place I thought they would be going in. I did not expect Dun to be out like this. But I did not expect Daniels and Jack to pick up the slack.

All in all there still is a postive vibe exiting this year. Bird has to build upon that for next season and we could see great things from this team.